1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a structure for supporting a shroud to which a radiator or the like is attached, in the front part of the body of an automobile, and a method for mounting the shroud therein.
2. Description of the Related Art
As such a structure for supporting a shroud, there is known the one shown in FIG. 10 (e.g., refer to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 12-257522 specification or the like). In this structure, attachment portions 100a on both sides of the upper part of a shroud 100 are attached to apron reinforcements 101, and attachment portions 100b on both sides of the lower part of the shroud 100 are attached to front frames 102. In other words, in two positions of each of its upper and lower parts, the shroud 100 is supported to a vehicle body. In the shroud 100, a radiator is attached to its middle rectangular portion 100c, and a headlamp is attached to each of its right and left portions 100d. 
In recent years, there has been a great demand for making a headlamp longer in the front and rear directions. If a headlamp becomes longer, it gets in the way of an apron reinforcement, thereby making it difficult to extend the apron reinforcement's front end up to the position in which a shroud is provided. This has compelled those skilled in the art to adopt a structure in which an apron reinforcement is positioned more backward. If you want to support both sides of a shroud to such apron reinforcements, as had conventionally been implemented, you need to bend backward both sides of the upper part of the shroud and extend up to the apron reinforcements. However, if both sides of the shroud's upper part are extended rearward, both sides become longer and narrower in the front and rear directions of the vehicle. Such a structure extremely lowers the rigidity by which the shroud's upper part is supported. This is substantially equivalent to the fact that the shroud is supported to the vehicle body, only at its lower part where it is supported by the front ends of front frames. As a result, there is a disadvantage in that the shroud may fall in the front and rear directions of the vehicle body.